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Research Staff, LLMs

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Remote from
USA
Salary
USD 150k–250k / yr
Employment
Full Time
Experience
Senior
Published
Apply before
28 Nov 2026
Listing views
19
Application actions
0
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AI Summary

The role, at a glance.

Deepgram is seeking an experienced LLM researcher to develop new approaches for large-scale language and audio-adjacent AI systems. The role covers literature review, experimental design, data curation, distributed transformer training, reinforcement-learning methods, and production deployment. Candidates need strong Python and PyTorch capabilities plus practical experience with transformer architectures, large-scale compute, and model optimization. This is a US-remote, full-time research position in a fast-moving environment that expects extensive experimentation and AI-first working practices.

Role DNA

A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.

Job Complexity

5/5
EasyHard

Pace & Pressure

5/5
RelaxedFast-paced

Autonomy Level

5/5
GuidedFull ownership

Communication Load

4/5
IndependentCollaborative
AI insightThe role requires deep hands-on expertise in LLM research, distributed training, transformer optimization, and reinforcement learning, alongside the ability to turn novel ideas into scalable production systems. Expectations emphasize rapid validation of research hypotheses and independent ownership of ambiguous technical problems.

Salary analysis

Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.

Estimated job median (per year)Market rate
$200,000
US market range (per year)$170k–$300k
AI insightThe employer discloses a yearly base compensation range of $150,000 to $250,000 USD, with a midpoint of $200,000. Estimated US market compensation for an experienced LLM research staff role is approximately $170,000 to $300,000 USD per year; actual pay may vary with research depth, publication record, and distributed-systems expertise.

Core skills

Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity.

Sample interview questions
Describe an LLM experiment you designed to test a high-risk research hypothesis.

I would define a narrowly scoped hypothesis, identify a measurable primary metric and a strong baseline, then run the smallest experiment capable of falsifying the idea. I would document dataset composition, training configuration, evaluation slices, and failure modes before deciding whether the result merits scaled investment.

How would you improve the efficiency of training a large transformer model on distributed infrastructure?

I would profile data loading, communication, memory usage, and compute utilization first. Depending on the bottleneck, I would evaluate mixed precision, activation checkpointing, sharded data-parallel strategies, optimized attention kernels, sequence packing, and changes to batch or parallelism configuration while validating that model quality remains stable.

What factors do you consider when curating data for an LLM training run?

I consider source quality, licensing, duplication, language and domain coverage, harmful-content policies, formatting consistency, and the relationship between data mixture and intended model behavior. I also create evaluation sets that expose whether changes in curation improve generalization rather than simply optimizing a narrow benchmark.

How would you evaluate whether an RLHF pipeline is improving a model?

I would combine offline preference-model metrics with blinded human evaluation and task-specific quality, safety, and robustness measurements. I would also monitor reward hacking, regressions in factuality or instruction following, and distribution shifts between the labeling data and real production use.

How do you communicate complex research findings to engineering and product stakeholders?

I tailor the level of detail to the audience, starting with the decision, expected impact, confidence level, and key tradeoffs. I support the conclusion with clear experiment design, visualized metrics, limitations, and a concrete recommendation for the next technical or product step.

This analysis is generated from the job description. Salary estimates, role characteristics and sample answers are guidance, not employer-provided facts.
Opportunity details

About this role.

Company Overview

Deepgram is the leading platform underpinning the emerging trillion-dollar Voice AI economy, providing real-time APIs for speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and building production-grade voice agents at scale. More than 200,000 developers and 1,300+ organizations build voice offerings that are ‘Powered by Deepgram’, including Twilio, Cloudflare, Sierra, Decagon, Vapi, Daily, Cresta, Granola, and Jack in the Box. Deepgram’s voice-native foundation models are accessed through cloud APIs or as self-hosted and on-premises software, with unmatched accuracy, low latency, and cost efficiency. Backed by a recent Series C led by leading global investors and strategic partners, Deepgram has processed over 50,000 years of audio and transcribed more than 1 trillion words. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

Company Operating Rhythm

At Deepgram, we expect an AI-first mindset—AI use and comfort aren’t optional, they’re core to how we operate, innovate, and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools, and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results, and consistent, creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly, integrating AI into their workflows, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally, we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid, and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you’re not excited to experiment, adapt, think on your feet, and learn constantly, or if you’re seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

The Opportunity

Voice is the most natural modality for human interaction with machines. However, current sequence modeling paradigms based on jointly scaling model and data cannot deliver voice AI capable of universal human interaction. The challenges are rooted in fundamental data problems posed by audio: real-world audio data is scarce and enormously diverse, spanning a vast space of voices, speaking styles, and acoustic conditions. Even if billions of hours of audio were accessible, its inherent high dimensionality creates computational and storage costs that make training and deployment prohibitively expensive at world scale. We believe that entirely new paradigms for audio AI are needed to overcome these challenges and make voice interaction accessible to everyone.

The Role

Deepgram is currently looking for an experienced researcher to who has worked extensively with Large Language Models (LLMS) and has a deep understanding of transformer architecture to join our Research Staff. As a Member of the Research Staff, this individual should have extensive experience working on the hard technical aspects of LLMs, such as data curation, distributed large-scale training, optimization of transformer architecture, and Reinforcement Learning (RL) training.

The Challenge

We are seeking researchers who:

  • See “unsolved” problems as opportunities to pioneer entirely new approaches

  • Can identify the one critical experiment that will validate or kill an idea in days, not months

  • Have the vision to scale successful proofs-of-concept 100x

  • Are obsessed with using AI to automate and amplify your own impact

If you find yourself energized rather than daunted by these expectations—if you’re already thinking about five ideas to try while reading this—you might be the researcher we need. This role demands obsession with the problems, creativity in approach, and relentless drive toward elegant, scalable solutions. The technical challenges are immense, but the potential impact is transformative.

What You’ll Do

  • Brainstorming and collaborating with other members of the Research Staff to define new LLM research initiatives

  • Broad surveying of literature, evaluating, classifying, and distilling current methods

  • Designing and carrying out experimental programs for LLMs

  • Driving transformer (LLM) training jobs successfully on distributed compute infrastructure and deploying new models into production

  • Documenting and presenting results and complex technical concepts clearly for a target audience

  • Staying up to date with the latest advances in deep learning and LLMs, with a particular eye towards their implications and applications within our products

You’ll Love This Role if You

  • Are passionate about AI and excited about working on state of the art LLM research

  • Have an interest in producing and applying new science to help us develop and deploy large language models

  • Enjoy building from the ground up and love to create new systems.

  • Have strong communication skills and are able to translate complex concepts clearly

  • Are highly analytical and enjoy delving into detailed analyses when necessary

It’s Important to Us That You Have

  • 3+ years of experience in applied deep learning research, with a solid understanding toward the applications and implications of different neural network types, architectures, and loss mechanism

  • Proven experience working with large language models (LLMs) – including experience with data curation, distributed large-scale training, optimization of transformer architecture, and RL Learning

  • Strong experience coding in Python and working with Pytorch

  • Experience with various transformer architectures (auto-regressive, sequence-to-sequence.etc)

  • Experience with distributed computing and large-scale data processing

  • Prior experience in conducting experimental programs and using results to optimize models

It Would Be Great if You Had

  • Deep understanding of transformers, causal LMs, and their underlying architecture

  • Understanding of distributed training and distributed inference schemes for LLMs

  • Familiarity with RLHF labeling and training pipelines

  • Up-to-date knowledge of recent LLM techniques and developments

The Challenge

We are seeking researchers who:

  • See “unsolved” problems as opportunities to pioneer entirely new approaches

  • Can identify the one critical experiment that will validate or kill an idea in days, not months

  • Have the vision to scale successful proofs-of-concept 100x

  • Are obsessed with using AI to automate and amplify your own impact

If you find yourself energized rather than daunted by these expectations—if you’re already thinking about five ideas to try while reading this—you might be the researcher we need. This role demands obsession with the problems, creativity in approach, and relentless drive toward elegant, scalable solutions. The technical challenges are immense, but the potential impact is transformative.

What You’ll Do

  • Brainstorming and collaborating with other members of the Research Staff to define new LLM research initiatives

  • Broad surveying of literature, evaluating, classifying, and distilling current methods

  • Designing and carrying out experimental programs for LLMs

  • Driving transformer (LLM) training jobs successfully on distributed compute infrastructure and deploying new models into production

  • Documenting and presenting results and complex technical concepts clearly for a target audience

  • Staying up to date with the latest advances in deep learning and LLMs, with a particular eye towards their implications and applications within our products

You’ll Love This Role if You

  • Are passionate about AI and excited about working on state of the art LLM research

  • Have an interest in producing and applying new science to help us develop and deploy large language models

  • Enjoy building from the ground up and love to create new systems.

  • Have strong communication skills and are able to translate complex concepts clearly

  • Are highly analytical and enjoy delving into detailed analyses when necessary

It’s Important to Us That You Have

  • 3+ years of experience in applied deep learning research, with a solid understanding toward the applications and implications of different neural network types, architectures, and loss mechanism

  • Proven experience working with large language models (LLMs) – including experience with data curation, distributed large-scale training, optimization of transformer architecture, and RL Learning

  • Strong experience coding in Python and working with Pytorch

  • Experience with various transformer architectures (auto-regressive, sequence-to-sequence.etc)

  • Experience with distributed computing and large-scale data processing

  • Prior experience in conducting experimental programs and using results to optimize models

It Would Be Great if You Had

  • Deep understanding of transformers, causal LMs, and their underlying architecture

  • Understanding of distributed training and distributed inference schemes for LLMs

  • Familiarity with RLHF labeling and training pipelines

  • Up-to-date knowledge of recent LLM techniques and developments

  • Published papers in Deep Learning Research, particularly related to LLMs and deep neural networks

  • Published papers in Deep Learning Research, particularly related to LLMs and deep neural networks

Notice: We’re aware of individuals impersonating Deepgram recruiters. All legitimate Deepgram recruiting communication comes from an @deepgram.com email address. If you’ve received a message claiming to be Deepgram, please forward it to careers@deepgram.com.

Apply now >

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